Protecting his campus from a pandemic was not on the list of challenges Julio Frenk planned to address when he became president of the University of Miami in 2015.
Yet, five years into his presidency, the former minister of health of Mexico found himself dealing with the fourth pandemic of his public health career.
A severe respiratory illness that would eventually come to be known as COVID-19 was spreading around the world and starting to gain a foothold in the United States. As cases in Miami-Dade County began to spike, Frenk and University officials quickly pivoted, migrating courses online and having students finish the 2019-2020 academic year from home.
As the University became one of only 30 percent of higher education institutions offering both in-person and remote instruction that fall, Frenk’s administration implemented a host of protocols and precautions that were so thorough that no cases of in-classroom transmission of the virus were recorded throughout the full academic year.
The University’s response to the pandemic was particularly memorable, but only one of the many achievements Frenk helped spearhead during his nine years as the institution’s sixth president.
Now, as he departs to become the next chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he leaves an institution that, under his leadership, has risen to new heights in a multitude of areas—from education, philanthropy, and research to health care, intercollegiate athletics, and service to society.
“Julio’s tenure has been marked by resilience, vision, and an innovative management model that allowed us to attain remarkable results for our students, patients, and community,” Manny Kadre, the newly named chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, wrote in a letter to the University community announcing Frenk’s departure.
Across its areas of endeavor, the University Frenk led for nearly a decade remains on solid footing. Last year, for example, the institution reached $760 million in external research grant funding across the medical and academic enterprises, while its growth pool market value, primarily represented by its endowment, totaled $1.4 billion.
Immediate impact
Frenk arrived at the University in 2015, succeeding Donna Shalala. And even on his first official day on the Coral Gables Campus as the University’s president, Frenk made an immediate impact, meeting with student leaders and greeting parents who were helping their sons and daughters move into the residential colleges to begin the 2015-2016 school year.
From that day on, the pace of his administration’s accomplishments and progress only accelerated, with a relentless focus on excellence and continuous improvement. Two years ago, as the value of higher education came under increasing scrutiny, Frenk appointed the chief executive officer with whom he had partnered on a dramatic turnaround of the University’s health system, Joe Echevarria, as CEO across the entire institution to drive execution of its strategic plan, The Roadmap to Our New Century.
AAU membership
The University’s ascension into the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) is arguably its greatest achievement during Frenk’s presidency. It had been a decades-long goal of the institution to become a member of the esteemed national organization of leading research universities, entry into which is by invitation only.
Only 3 percent of the nation’s four-year institutions belong to the AAU, whose members produce 51 percent of all research doctorates and which—up until this year—included just eight schools in the Southeast.
“There are special moments in the life of a university that not only reward our hard work but, more importantly, reaffirm our strategic vision and time-honored mission,” Frenk said last year when the University achieved membership into the group.
World-class health care
Much of the research propelling the University into the top echelon among its national peers is carried out at the Miller School of Medicine and UHealth – University of Miami Health System, in partnership with Jackson Health System. During Frenk’s tenure, UHealth experienced a dramatic turnaround and initiated significant growth as South Florida’s only academic health system.
Its Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center received the prestigious National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation, joining a highly select group as one of only two NCI-designated cancer centers in the state of Florida, and one of just 72 across the nation. A landmark gift established the Desai Sethi Urology Institute at UHealth, and other specialties such as ophthalmology continued to thrive, with the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute remaining the top eye hospital in the country for 22 consecutive years.
While the Miller School exceled in drawing talent to South Florida with its NextGenMD curriculum—the first cohort of which achieved a 100 percent match rate on residencies—the health system continued to expand its regional footprint. UHealth is set to open new locations in Doral this fall and Aventura next year, modeled after its highly successful Lennar Foundation Medical Center in Coral Gables.
Attracting support
Ever Brighter: The University of Miami’s Campaign for Our Next Century quietly launched with Frenk’s arrival. And by the time it was publicly unveiled in 2021, he noted that the institution’s most ambitious fundraising campaign ever was well on its way to reaching its $2.5 billion goal. With just under 18 months remaining in the campaign, the institution has endowed more than 100 new faculty chairs and raised more than $2 billion.
But the campaign’s goal, Frenk proclaimed, was never about a number. “It is about enabling the University to be better, stronger, and bolder at doing what it has done since its founding in 1925: turn challenges into opportunities, lead in service to humanity, and be a force for good across our local and global communities,” he said.
During Frenk’s administration, Ever Brighter was powered by historic donations such as a $100 million gift from longtime philanthropists Dr. Phillip and Patricia Frost to establish a group of synergistic research centers patterned after the National Institutes of Health and aimed at harnessing the interdisciplinary power of science, technology, engineering, and math.
Focusing on research at the molecular level, one of those centers, the 94,000-square-foot Frost Institute for Chemistry and Molecular Science, has already opened. Another, the Frost Institute for Data Science and Computing, is enabling new discoveries through data-intensive research in fields ranging from medicine and earth sciences to urban planning, digital humanities, and business.
The philanthropic impact of Frenk’s administration will be felt long after he has left the University. A $50 million gift from Kenneth C. Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel and founder of Griffin Catalyst, is helping to build a 12-story, 244,000-square-foot Transformational Cancer Research Building, allowing Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center to double its research footprint, accelerate efforts to develop new therapies, enhance care for patients, and expand access to clinical trials.
New facilities
Whether it be housing for students or a state-of-the-art music performance and technology center, new facilities were a distinctive feature during Frenk’s tenure.
Hailed as the future of live performance, music, and technology, the new $36.5 million Knight Center for Music Innovation opened in 2023, showcasing a vast array of next-generation features that are allowing Frost School of Music students, faculty members, and visiting artists to experiment, explore, and develop new modalities in musical performance.
Comprised of 25 interconnected buildings and a multitude of outdoor spaces including a grand courtyard, study spots, recreational spaces, and outdoor terraces, the 12-acre Lakeside Village student housing complex opened to students in August 2020.
Meanwhile, the first phase of Centennial Village, part of the University’s multi-year plan to modernize campus housing, is expected to open this fall.
Next steps
Frenk has begun a sabbatical from the University to focus on his transition to California as UCLA’s next chancellor.
The Board of Trustees, in consultation with the leadership of the Faculty Senate, appointed Echevarria to serve as acting president effective immediately. Over the next several months, the Board of Trustees will engage in robust discussion with the faculty and other important stakeholders to initiate the process of identifying the next president of the University, according to Kadre.
In his first message to the University community as acting president, Echevarria noted his respect and gratitude for the institution’s faculty. A passionate alumnus, he lauded Frenk’s record of achievement and urged his colleagues to remain focused on the institution’s mission, concluding, “I first arrived on this campus as a 17-year-old from the South Bronx in 1974—50 years ago. This place means the world to me because it changed the trajectory of my life. Our mission and our quest for excellence continue.”
Here’s a look at some of the other achievements that occurred during Frenk’s tenure:
- The University renamed its business school in honor of Patti and Allan Herbert for their transformative $100 million in lifetime giving to the University.
- The School of Nursing and Health Studies dedicated its new Simulation Hospital, highlighting a new era of engaged learning and transformative spaces across the University.
- The University launched a new Climate Resilience Academy, a research hub that supports the academic units and pursues an interdisciplinary approach that links with private and public partners to solve impacts of climate change and other complex global issues.
- The women’s and men’s basketball teams made a magical and historic march in their respective NCAA tournaments in 2023—the women advancing to the Elite Eight and the men competing in the Final Four in Houston.
